Artist Profile

Wark grew up in the Barossa Valley, South Australia, surrounded by light and seasonal colour. A formative interest in design took her to Milan where she worked as a graphic designer which fed her preoccupation with the concept of negative space. This was her bridge to abstraction.

Tension and synergy is evident in all of Wark’s painted acrylic works on canvas, something that she refers to as “the spirit of space”. Recently Wark has painted large public artworks, motivated by a desire to bring a human element to urban architecture. The sameness of the urban environment is the catalyst and abstracted subject.

The warmth and organic nature of Wark’s public artwork is heightened when viewed amongst the compounding grey of city streets. Her work pulsates with latent energy, literally wound-up, as each new layer is added. Layers of paint both conceal and reveal. A dialogue begins, one that is not about architecture but the human experience of a lived city. A reminder that sings “I/We exist”.

Whether working in the bodily scale of a painting, or punching that graphic into mural-proportions, as she did when commissioned for the American television series Sex and the City (2003), Wark’s unerring sense of design is evident.

Wark has also delivered commissioned murals for South Australia’s The Community Store, Murray Street, Nuriootpa (2017) and for The Little Rundle Street Art Project, Little Rundle Street, Adelaide (2016).

She has shown across her career with Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney, Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, Peter Walker Fine Art in Adelaide, as well as exhibiting widely in group exhibitions in Australia, as well as Hong Kong and New Zealand. In 2016 she was a finalist in The Fleurieu Food, Art, Wine Prize, her painting ‘Aged Rose Quartz Riesling’ was highly commended.

Wark has a strong history of commission work reaching back to 2001, including clients Qantas, HBO network (USA), Peter Lehmann Wines, Ahrens Engineering, Toga Group among others.

Biography

1975 Born Melbourne, Australia
1993 First Year Bachelor of Communication, University of South Australia
1994 Visual Arts, Adelaide Central School of Art, Australia
1995 Bachelor of Graphic Design, University of South Australia
1999 Painting 2, National Art School, East Sydney, Australia
1999 Graphic Designer, 3C, Sydney, Australia
2000 Graphic Designer, Cucco srl, Milan, Italy
2001 Graphic Designer, Emery Vincent Design, Sydney, Australia
2002 to present Full-time Artist

Exhibitions
1997 Group exhibition, FAD Gallery, Adelaide, Australia
1998 Solo exhibition, FAD Gallery, Adelaide, Australia
2001 Group exhibition, Global Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2001 Solo exhibition, Global Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2001 Group exhibition, Art Images Gallery, Adelaide, Australia
2002 Solo exhibition, Art Images Gallery, Adelaide, Australia
2002 Group exhibition, 4M, Melbourne, Australia
2002 Group exhibition, Newberry Gallery, Dunsborough, Western Australia
2003 Solo exhibition, Apartmento, Auckland, New Zealand
2003 Solo exhibition, Peripheral Art space, Tanunda, South Australia
2003 Group exhibition, Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, Australia
2003 Group exhibition, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
2004 Solo exhibition, Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, Australia
2004 Solo exhibition, Peter Walker Fine Art, Adelaide, South Australia
2004 Solo exhibition, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
2004 Group exhibition, The Fleurieu Vistas Exhibition, McLaren Vale, South Australia
2005 Group exhibition, The Metro 5 Art Award, Melbourne, Australia
2005 Solo exhibition, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2005 Group exhibition, Peter Walker Fine Art, Adelaide, South Australia
2005 Group exhibition, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
2005 Group exhibition, Barossa Vintage Festival, Tanunda, South Australia
2005 Solo exhibition, Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, Australia
2005 Group exhibition, 10 Chancery Lane Gallery, Hong Kong
2005 Solo exhibition, Peter Walker Fine Art, Adelaide, Australia
2006 Group exhibition, Scotch College, Adelaide, Australia
2006 Solo exhibition, Tim Olsen Gallery, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
2006 Solo exhibition, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
2007 Group exhibition, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
2007 Solo exhibition, Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, Australia
2007 Solo exhibition, Peter Lehmann Wines, Tanunda, Australia
2007 Group exhibition, Jan Murphy Gallery, Brisbane, Australia
2008 Solo exhibition, Peter Walker Fine Art, Adelaide, Australia
2008 Group exhibition, Scott Livesey Art Dealer, Melbourne, Australia
2016 Group exhibition, The Fleurieu Food + Wine Art Prize Exhibition, McLaren Vale, South Australia
2016 Solo exhibition, Peter Walker Fine Art, Adelaide, Australia
2018 Solo exhibition, Yalumba Wine Room, Angaston, South Australia

Corporate Commissions

2001 Toga Group - Art work for Medina Hotel foyer, Flinders St, Melbourne, Australia
2002 Qantas - Art work for in-flight domestic food boxes
2002 Peter Lehmann Wines - Art work for UK “Futures” Shiraz wine label
2002 Gavin Anderson & Company - Art work for company foyer, Australia
2002 Strategic Action - Art work for company foyer, Australia
2002 4M - Art work for showroom foyer, Australia
2002 Dimension Data - Art work for Forum 11 conference brochure, Australia
2003 ‘Sex and the City’ Television Series - Commissioned mural for final series
2004 Barossa Music Festival - Art work for poster and ‘Edge of the World’ production
2006 Peter Lehmann Wines - Art work for Rose wine label
2007 Commissioned artwork for Ahrens Engineering, private collection
2007 Painted live on stage at the DECADEnce Dinner, Barossa Vintage Festival, Australia
2013 Resume painting after Maternity leave
2013 Teusner Wines - Art work for “Family” Shiraz wine label
2015 Teusner Wines - Art work for “Big Jim” Shiraz wine label
2016 Little Rundle Street Art Project - Exterior Warehouse Mural, Little Rundle Street, Kent Town, South Australia
2017 The Barossa Co-op - Exterior Mural, Murray Street Nuriootpa, South Australia
2019 Yalumba Wines - commissioned 3 hand-painted Magnums of 'The Signature’, auctioned at The 2019 Barossa Wine Auction, South Australia